Story

If we were to close our eyes and imagine someone turning ancient tragedy on its head like that, that person would be Lena Kitsopoulou, the larger-than-life anti-persona of the Greek stage.

Inviting a group of people on stage who call to mind the ancient Chorus, the author and director sets out to graft moments of a satirical and desperate “here and now” onto the Sophoclean myth.

Convinced of the relevance of ancient drama, given that “Whatever aspect of our contemporary reality someone chooses to analyze, they will inevitably come face to face with ancient tragedies”, Lena Kitsopoulou identifies in her heroes Antigones, Creons and Aimons who share fears and anxieties with us, ensconced here in our unbearably lonely world.

In a production which is of a piece with her work to date, Lena Kitsopoulou remains drawn to the motifs of human madness and loneliness; as she sees it, “We have nothing else: everything else is just lies”.

In Kitsopoulou’s world, though, comedy nestles beneath the existential angst, and vice versa. Driven by a need to poke fun at herself and to view reality through a distorting prism, she seeks “a trace of truth” in comedy. “I don’t force the comedy”, she says. “It’s a form of despair and a way of not feeling guilty about my baser side.”